


Crossfire

by Kalkasar (Mordhena)



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Conflict, Jealousy, Love Triangles, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:22:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26729626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mordhena/pseuds/Kalkasar
Summary: Malcolm finds himself in competition with Captain Archer for the affections of a certain engineer.A "My take on it" story inspired by the episode Rogue Planet
Relationships: Malcolm Reed/Charles "Trip" Tucker III
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	Crossfire

Malcolm Reed was not entirely sure when the competition between himself and the captain had started. That it had, however, was becoming increasingly apparent to him as time went on. Perhaps it started after Archer caught him in an intimate embrace with Trip in Engineering, but it may have been there before that. It had begun subtly at first, a word here, a look there. Nothing that Malcolm could put a finger on; it was just a feeling, a sneaking suspicion that perhaps everything was not entirely as it had been between himself and Captain Archer.  
  
Then, two days ago, the captain had come to see Malcolm in the Armory.  
  
"Malcolm, I wondered if we could have a word?"  
  
"Sir?" He looked up from his work, and met Archer's green eyes, which watched him with a speculative light. "How can I help you?"  
  
"I've been...thinking about some things recently, Lieutenant." The captain moved around the armory as he spoke, looking at a display screen, or checking on some setting. After a moment, he went on with what seemed like a complete change of subject. "Trip and I had breakfast together this morning."  
  
"Yes?" Malcolm put down the data pad he was working on and turned to face the captain. "I was aware of that, sir." He narrowed his eyes a little, wishing the man would get to the point.  
  
"Trip has a... mark on his wrist." Archer said. His green eyes pinned Malcolm with a hard stare. "He didn't like me asking too many questions about it, Lieutenant."  
  
Malcolm folded his arms across his chest. "I see." He knew the mark Archer referred to. It had happened accidentally a few nights before, when their love play had become just a little rougher than usual. He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose Commander Tucker is entitled to his privacy." Malcolm turned back to his work. "Will that be all, sir?"  
  
"No, Malcolm, that's not all." Jonathan stepped closer. "Just a friendly word of advice, Lieutenant Reed." He paused until Malcolm was forced to look up and meet his eyes. "You won't hurt him."  
  
It was not a question.  
  
Malcolm looked into the captain's eyes for a long moment, wanting to tell him to go to hell, but the use of ranks told him that the captain was willing to use his position to influence this matter. He straightened his shoulders, standing to his full height, which still felt too short alongside Archer’s bulk. "Yessir," he said coolly before he turned away with a half salute.  
  
"I think we understand each other." Archer left the armory as quietly as he'd come in.  
  
~~*~~  
  
The competition between them had grown sharper from that moment. It was not as though Malcolm could avoid the captain after all, and Archer seemed to take a perverse delight in goading him. It was becoming intolerable. Reed had found himself thinking once or twice that he should confront his Commanding Officer and clear the air.  
  
He'd been planning to do just that, when the rogue planet, DaKala, had showed up on sensors.  
  
The sniping continued between Jonathan and Malcolm on the way to the planet, but after landing, it seemed to get worse.  
  
Malcolm had only been doing his job when he suggested the away team should follow him. The terrain was unfamiliar, light limited on the planet with no sun. He began to lead the way through the undergrowth, phase pistol in hand when Archer's voice checked him.  
  
"Why don't you let me play Captain for a while, Malcolm?"  
  
And it hadn't stopped there. Malcolm found himself drawn into a game of points scoring, even in such trivial things as who had more Eagle Scouts Merit Badges.  
  
It was a relief when Archer sent him back to the ship with Ensign Sato to drop her off and bring Trip and some of the others down to the planet's surface.  
  
Lieutenant Reed sat by the campfire staring into the flames as he drank the sweet wine the Eskans had given them. Trip was by his side, also pensive as he watched the flames snap and dance amongst the wood. It was pleasant to get away from the ship and for once, the captain was staying off Malcolm's case. Archer glanced at them from time to time across the fire, but for the most part, he was engrossed in conversation with T'Pol.  
  
"Are you enjoying yourselves?" Damrus walked into the ring of firelight, smiling at them all gathered around the fire.  
  
"Very much," Archer replied.  
  
Malcolm noted that Trip looked relaxed and contented lazing by the fire. He let his eyes travel over his lover; drinking him in like the wine in his cup.  
  
He sighed and offered the Eskan a smile and a nod. Anyone who could make Trip look so relaxed was all right with him.  
  
"We depart in six hours," Damrus said to Malcolm. "You should think about getting some sleep...if you still plan to come with us?"  
  
"I wouldn't miss it." Malcolm replied. He was looking forward to a chance to see how the sensor cloaks the Eskans used worked and to witness the hunt. He nodded and got to his feet. "I suppose I'll turn in then," he said, laying a hand on Trip's shoulder in an unspoken signal.  
  
"Sounds like a good idea." Trip got up and followed him quickly.  
  
"I think I'll sit up a while," Archer called to them as they made their way towards the tents.  
  
"Have fun," Trip called back and smiled when Archer merely laughed.  
  
Walking to their tent, Malcolm cast a glance over his shoulder at Trip. "It's a relief to get away," he said softly, holding the tent flap aside for the older man.  
  
"What...is he still annoying you?"  
  
"You might say that. Though harassing is probably a more accurate name for it."  
  
"I don't get it," Trip mused. "It's not like Jon to behave that way. I can talk to him if you want; try and see what's bothering him?"  
  
"No, I don't think that's a good idea. It may only exacerbate the problem."  
  
"Well, alright, if that's what you want." Trip began to strip out of his jumpsuit, folding it neatly and placing it to one side of the tent before he took a flashlight and made a thorough search of his sleeping bag. "What was the name of them critters you and Hoshi mentioned? Bore worms?"  
  
Malcolm suppressed a grin, remembering the way he and the communications officer had teased Trip before coming down to the surface. "That's right; the ones that lay eggs in your ears." Malcolm reached for his lover, pulling him close. "I think I had just better check and make sure none have attacked you, hmm?" As he spoke, he drew Trip close against him, kissing his left ear and then swirling his tongue into it gently. "Ummm nope, no eggs here, Commander. Should I check the other one?"  
  
Trip shuddered with delight as his lover's breath caressed the moistened skin of his ear. He nodded mutely and turned his head, allowing Reed to gently lathe the right ear.  
  
"All clear here, too," Malcolm murmured as he ran his lips across Trip's cheek to capture his lips in a breath stealing kiss full of passion.  
  
Malcolm gently pushed Trip backwards covering his lover's body with his own as his mouth continued to savor his lips. He dipped his tongue into Trip's mouth, tasting the wine he’d drunk by the fire, and he growled deep in his throat.  
  
"Malcolm!" Trip struggled a little in the lieutenant's arms. "We can't do this here… he glanced towards the tent flap. "The cap'n…T'Pol…"  
  
"Won't hear a thing if you can keep quiet for once." Malcolm smiled down at Trip before returning to his leisurely exploration of the commander's body.  
  
"Dammit, Mal…" Trip's protests were silenced by a hot mouth and a probing tongue; a kiss that stole his breath and sent his mind into a spin. Moments later, Charles Tucker had forgotten about protesting and was avidly kissing Malcolm back, while his hands made quick work of getting the zipper on Malcolm's jumpsuit undone so he could explore the warm skin beneath.  
  
Bodies pressed close together, hands exploring, the two men lay full length in their tent, the only sounds that of stifled moans and grunts as they hungrily explored one another's bodies.  
  
After several moments, Malcolm released Trip's mouth and smiled down into his lover's eyes. "You were saying?" He passed a thumb across Charlie's lips, caressing them.  
  
"Nothin'," Trip whispered and suddenly rolled to pin Malcolm's body under his own. He grinned and caught hold of Malcolm's hands, bearing them to the floor above Malcolm's head. "I think you just lost the advantage, Mr Reed." Trip ground his hips against his lover, letting him feel the extent of his desire. With Malcolm helpless beneath him, Trip began a leisurely exploration of his own.  
  
"I think I should check your ears too," he said with a grin, and bent to do just that, licking the small, well-formed ears of his partner; gently huffing warm breath into them, and moving onwards to suck and nibble at Malcolm's earlobes. "Want me, Darlin'?"  
  
"You know I do." Malcolm squirmed under Trip as his earlobe was again sucked into Trip's mouth, the tongue teasing while his teeth gently pressed the soft flesh between them.  
  
Trip growled and pushed Malcolm's undershirt up, helping the younger man to get the garment off over his head, leaving his chest exposed to more of Trip's kissing, licking and teasing.  
  
Malcolm bucked and cried out softly as Trip's tongue found one of his nipples, licking for a moment before the hardening nub was drawn between gently sucking lips and tormented by teeth.  
  
Trip chuckled and let go long enough to say. "I thought you said we need to be quiet, L’tenant?"  
  
The only response was a helpless whimper as Trip moved on from Malcolm's nipples to raze a trail of fiery little kisses downward to the younger man's navel, his tongue dipping for a brief visit to that sensitive hollow. Trip delighted in the shudders that ran the length of Malcolm's body, and the increasing heat of the younger man's skin. He knew that Malcolm was quickly building to a fever pitch of desire, and he added fuel to it by taking a detour to the left and sinking his teeth into his lover's hip.  
  
With a yelp, Malcolm reached to twine his fingers into the short hair of his lover. "You did that on purpose," he chuckled. "I thought you were concerned about being overheard."  
  
"Of course I did it on purpose, Malcolm..." Trip nipped at his lover's hip a second time. "But I didn't say I was _worried_ about bein' overheard, you assumed that."  
  
Dipping his head, the commander shunted lower, simultaneously grabbing the waistband of Malcolm's briefs. "Lift your hips, Darlin."  
  
Malcolm obliged and then sank back down with a groan of longing as that devilish tongue danced along the length of his swollen manhood, sending lightning bolts of pleasure all through him. He swallowed hard, his fingers gripping tighter into short, silky hair. "Oh god...that's soo good!"  
  
A moment later his cock was engulfed in a warm, wet cavern as Trip drew him into his mouth and began to suck gently while his fingers made maddening little circles across his belly.  
  
Malcolm closed his eyes, lost in a haze of erotic sensation, trying hard not to thrust deeper into Trip's throat; letting him set the pace. His fingers clawed at the sleeping bag beneath him as Trip gradually increased the speed, slowly fueling the fires in Malcolm’s body until they burned with an intensity that left him trembling and weak with need. He was incapable of communicating in anything more than inarticulate grunts and moans until finally, the tension came to a point that he could no longer restrain it.  
  
"Oh god, yes!" Malcolm cried as Trip brought him to the brink and then nudged him into orgasmic paroxysms with a skillful flick of his tongue across the tender corona.  
  
Trip growled as Malcolm bucked. Warm come spurted into his mouth, and he held it for a moment, before letting it run slowly down over the still twitching organ, using it as lubrication as he quickly bobbed his head up and down a few more times, milking every drop of the slick fluid from Malcolm's body.  
  
As Malcolm slowly began to relax, Trip released the sated member from his mouth and made his way back upwards along the lieutenant's body until their lips met and he kissed Malcolm. "Happy?"  
  
"Mmmm ecstatic..." Malcolm gasped, pulling Trip against him and wrapping them both in the sleeping bag.  
  
They lay snuggled together for several moments, not speaking, while Malcolm came down from the heady experience Trip had just given him.  
  
After a while Malcolm stirred. "Still awake?" He kissed Trip's forehead as he spoke.  
  
"Uh-hmmm." Trip nuzzled Malcolm's shoulder. His voice sounded sleepy, but he drew back a little, looking into his lover's eyes.  
  
Malcolm smiled. "What did you mean?"  
  
"Hm?" Trip frowned, "Mean? Mean when?"  
  
"When you said, 'the cap'n...T'Pol...' I thought you meant you didn't want them to hear us."  
  
Trip laughed softly as his arms tightened around the younger man. "Nah, I meant they might get jealous."  
  
"Oh." Malcolm went silent again for a few moments. "Do you think he is? Jealous, I mean."  
  
"Who, Jon?" Trip shook his head. "I don't think so...there's never been anything between us."  
  
"Hm..." Malcolm nuzzled into Trip's hair, breathing his scent. "I just wonder, sometimes...it almost seems like it..."  
  
"Nah," Trip asserted. "No competition at all, Darlin'."  
  
Silence again fell between them, a companionable, contented silence. Malcolm sighed and closed his eyes. He was happy with Trip. Happier than he had ever been with anyone. Trip was easy going and laid back. Malcolm didn't feel the constant need to prove himself with Trip that he often had in other relationships. He treasured it. Smiling against Trip's hair, Malcolm tightened his arms about his lover.  
  
"Good," he murmured. "I wouldn't want to see you caught in the crossfire if he were."  
  
"Are you sure you don't want me to talk to him?" Trip pushed himself up on one elbow, looking down into Malcolm's eyes.  
  
"Yes." Malcolm nodded and pulled Trip down next to him once more. "I'm sure." He wrapped his arms around the commander. "We ought to sleep. It's late." He smiled in the darkness as Trip drew a deep breath and snuggled closer. "Good night," he whispered.  
  
Lying in the darkness, listening as his lover's breathing slowed and deepened, Malcolm let his mind run over recent events. Jonathan Archer bore all the hallmarks of a jealous ex-lover, and Malcolm couldn't understand it. He believed Trip was telling the truth when he said there had never been anything between the two of them, but the captain's behavior was still puzzling, nonetheless. He sighed, shaking his head as he settled to sleep.  
  
For the moment Trip was his, and he intended for things to remain that way. He would find some way to deal with the captain, when and if it became necessary. As he drifted into slumber, Malcolm's mind moved away from Archer, to the pending hunt. He wasn't sure exactly what, yet, but something about the Eskans and their equipment was slightly off base. He intended to find out what.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoy this work, please leave kudos or a comment to let the author know.


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